Times hiring 'celebrity justice' reporter

The latest innovations from LAT Innovation Editor Russ Stanton are out -- a bunch of job openings following on his memo of earlier this week. Here's our favorite new reporter slot:

Celebrity justice - This is part of a major initiative to build out a Crime & Justice space on latimes.com this year. It involves writing breaking news off the entertainment beat, scouring court files to develop interesting and offbeat stories related to the entertainment industry and its denizens, and working with Metro in updating ongoing trials and following up on cases.

The move to staff up for the web begins in earnest today with the posting of five new jobs. As you'll see, this first batch is designed to get us to a 24/7 news-gathering operation ASAP. These positions may be filled internally.

OVERNIGHT NEWS EDITORS

The online newsroom has two immediate openings for overnight news editors. The holders of these jobs will serve as the nocturnal engine of the L.A. Times. While we're sleeping, the rest of the world is awake and in motion and 13% of our traffic - and more if we do this right - comes from outside the U.S.

The duties include tracking down, prioritizing and publishing breaking news and photos on the home page and other areas of the site, adding relevant links and writing copy. Applicants must have sharp news judgment, be knowledgeable about news sites, blogs and search engines and be able to write headlines quickly. Experience with PhotoShop, simple HTML editors such as Textpad and Homesite, blog software, and any Web content management system is a plus, but not mandatory.

These jobs are more than a fireman's watch - when news isn't breaking, you'll be working on special features, projects and general site cleanup. Good communication skills are a must as smooth transitions with the night and morning crews will be key to maintaining a continuous, well-edited site. The shifts consist of four, 10-hour days (we're thinking 10 p.m. to 8 a.m.).
If you're not sure you're ready to make a radical lifestyle change, these positions could be filled on a trial basis, i.e., a six-month commitment.

The Continuous News Desk is looking to fill three reporting positions, expanding both the kinds of things we cover online and our staffing around the clock.

Applicants must be skilled in writing quickly and accurately under intense deadline pressure, be ready to write multiple updates on a given story, and have an eye for the kinds of stories that prove popular on latimes.com.

The positions:

Celebrity justice - This is part of a major initiative to build out a Crime & Justice space on latimes.com this year. It involves writing breaking news off the entertainment beat, scouring court files to develop interesting and offbeat stories related to the entertainment industry and its denizens, and working with Metro in updating ongoing trials and following up on cases.

Night reporter - This job, a 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. weeknight shift, involves reporting breaking news from throughout Southern California with an emphasis on the stories that unfold too late for print-edition deadlines or break before anyone's in the building.

General assignment reporter - This job entails writing stories off the news of the day or follow-ups to ongoing stories. The ideal candidate must be an aggressive reporter who can develop sources and come up with creative ways to enhance our coverage of local news online.
If interested, please contact Mike Castelvecchi, continuous news desk editor, at Ext. 77416, or via email.